Dirt
by CowboySpike
Summary: Lee trains with Gai, but something else is on his mind. Is he only able to think when his head is in the dirt? Or do I just like the word 'dirt'...? Musings of SakuLee.


~~Another Lee thang by moi, CS. Enjoy the Leeness of it all... Naruto and all respective names & characters do not belong to moi... too bad they forgot to copyright Lee's SOOUUUULL...~~  
  
DIRT  
  
"Lee."  
  
"...hn."  
  
"Not 'HN'!! Get up!!"  
  
"Yes, yes.." Lee obeyed his sensei with enough apathy to fill an oil tanker. All of his weight was shifted onto his right leg. His hips were angled, arms akimbo, head leaning to one side. This wasn't the stance of a proud shinobi. So Gai took him down.  
  
Lee hit the dirt with a satisfying 'thud', arms crumpled beneath his chest. The dust settled comfortably on his face as he lied there, seemingly unfazed.   
  
"...I probably deserved that."  
  
"Of course you did. You know how I operate. Now, this time... GET UP."  
  
It wouldn't have been any easier getting up had angels been pulling Lee towards the heavens with string. But even with his head in the dirt, he could see his sensei's face. Gai. The man who embodied those very angels. He was glowering. Now was not the time to be comparing him to an angel...  
  
Nevertheless, Lee arose. The inertia of his action cleared the dust, and he took a clean breath into his lungs. He grounded his feet and stretched his entire length towards opposite poles of the earth. He spread his digits, rotated his wrists and shoulders; he rotated his head once in each direction as he let out his breath. Scapular, deltoid, brachial, femoral, abdominal. Every muscle group was thus activated and prepared.  
  
Gai smiled to himself. Nothing like a dirt breakfast to get motivated. Though something was amiss. No matter. Training is training.   
  
Lee may have physically looked ready, but whatever it looked like on the outside, on the inside it was opposite times twelve. Lucky dirt... its whole mission in life was to lie there, crumbled and never have to deal with any kind of individual feelings. Not only did he envy the dirt, he empathized with the dirt. He knew how dirt felt because, at the risk of overusing the word 'dirt', he'd been treated like dirt.   
  
Okay, so Lee gets treated like dirt constantly, but it's expected from Gai. When Gai treated you like dirt, it was like a blessing. The nastier Gai got with you, the more potential he knew you had. It was like... 'Gee, that last kick to the face really hurt... I must be improving!'  
  
That was the way kids learned. You show them results to their actions immediately. You can't hit me hard enough? You're gonna keep getting hit by me until you can match my force. That was the way Gai taught. But not all the time. He was pretty lenient on Lee's teammates. Lee got no mercy. Lee deserved no mercy. He's dirt, remember?  
  
Dirt. It encrusted his eyes, got sucked into his lungs by way of his nostrils, gritted up between his teeth and dried out his tongue. How many times will he have to taste dirt before it's over? When will it come to the point where he opens his eyes in the morning and dirt pours out, and when he opens his mouth to scream, there's nothing but more dirt, and then the cuts on his hands and legs from so much training ooze some liquefied form of dirt?  
  
Then it would be called mud. But that wasn't the figure of speech he identified with. She never treated him like mud. It always just came down to dirt. How was it supposed to feel being ignored by someone you care about just because other people are around? Or what about later on, when there isn't anyone around and she still can't talk to you because 'what if...?'.   
  
It was enough to drive someone to depression. Gai knew that. He also knew his pupil very well. He ALSO knew about his pupil's problems. Him knowing didn't mean he could do anything about it, though. His only hope was to force Lee's thoughts away from it, and into a state of hatred towards his antagonist... which was currently Gai. He smiled to himself as he noticed Lee's apathy slowly switch to rage. About one more whack to the ribs should do for now...  
  
Lee hit the dirt yet again and slid to where the clearing began. The clearing was green; it was off of the path. Lee dug both of his index fingers into the inner corners of his eyes- to clear away the dust. Upon catching his breath, he opened his eyes only to have them cross in an attempt to put into focus the object currently residing on his forehead. It was a flower. A pink one. Being careful not to disturb it, Lee flipped his body over to get a better look at it. It was so pretty, yet living in such a compromising place- right next to a worn path.   
  
"How strange." He thought, for something to be so pretty despite the dangerous position it currently held. He looked down, past the pretty petals, the stem, even the leaves to where the flower met the earth. The earth holding it in... it was solid dirt. A block of dirt that held the flower upright and strong.  
  
"Hey! GET UP!!"  
  
  
  
Being dirt does have one advantage... you get to stare at the flower all you want from below, and if by chance you've got enough good stuff inside you, you just might help it grow...  
  
  
~~Th'end. Like? It's a lil similar to my last one... but... that's how I writes 'em. At least this one had dialogue. o.o;; Love meeeeee... ~~ 


End file.
